M1895 Winchester Musket and the Road to Camp Perry

[scottz63]

I'd love to have a model 1895 Winchester, in .30-40, to play with!

Me as well.

[Culpeper]

This issue deals with the continuing progress of getting the Winchester Musket and the Man ready for my first match under the CMP GAMES RIFLE AND PISTOL COMPETITION RULES. Conditions were outstanding with clear sky, very slight breeze, and temperature in the high eighties. The load of choice is my standard R-P brass, CCI #34 large rifle primers, 45.5 grains of IMR 4350 and 175 grain Sierra Match Kings. Two things must be noted. The first is IMR 4350 powder is my go to for .30-40 Krag and 7.5 Swiss. In fact I use the same charge for both. Then there are the Match Kings. These are factory seconds from a couple of vendors on the internet. I have not broke open my little green boxes in two years because I don't look down on good bullets at some times half the the prices of retail. Guys, up here at the Home, said I was out of my head for loading with inferior bullets. I told them I am out of my head but for reasons other than shooting. I told them they would have to be senile to not cheaply shoot their guns. Dad may have raised an idiot but he didn't raise a fool.

I started the session by blowing off twenty 220 grain Sierra Round Nose loads just for the fun of it. All shot low at a hundred yards which I can safely say the fault was the shooter. Then it was time to get in the game. I fired the rest of the 175 grain cartridges excepting ten at a target and got the same results as the 220s. Then I had a gaa-doy moment. Take the M1 sling off my Garand and put it on the Winchester. It took a few minutes to wrestle the metal tab through the narrow swivel but I found it could be done without a lot of cursing and a hacksaw. And I had a pair of winter gloves in my auto's Stuff Hit the Fan kit.

The glove.jpg (515.76 KiB) Viewed 11486 times

M1895 Winchester Musket with M1 Sling.jpg (738.16 KiB) Viewed 11486 times

The final ten rounds surprised me. Maybe I just surprised myself. I was alone on the range for two and a half hours so it was shoot one, walk to the target, take a pic and repeat as necessary. My eighth shot might be a sub-conscious cry for help. I whiffed #8 on the last outing and I really whiffed it this time. I did so well number eight was nowhere to be found on the paper. So you can see in the photo I didn't do too bad once I got the sling, glove and positioning under control.

M1895 Winchester at 100 yards -rear sight 200 - ten slow prone.jpg (955.87 KiB) Viewed 11486 times

The local match is coming and I hope I can give a glowing report to you. Slow standing is still a kiester kicker and bane of shooter's existence.

[Culpeper]

Today's match was cancelled yesterday. The reason was suppsed to be bad weather. Meanwhile in other news the weather folks have been saying for four days Saturday was good to go. Clear sky, 80, light breeze. Yeah. Bad weather. Anyway, three non club shooters did not get the email. So another member and I ran an informal match. Everyone had fun. We ran the "A" course of thirty-five shots.

I, on the hand, sucked really bad but that is alright. Some issues were identified. Getting ready for Perry is a work in progress. One problem rendered moot was if I could get off ten shots under eighty seconds in the rapid prone stage. I worried because the elevator on the rifle does not lift the fifth cartridge high enough to be chambered without jamming on the barrel face. So I had to load four, four, and two. Then I lost five to ten seconds trying to pull the trigger from half cock and then on an empty chamber at the start. Sheesh. Cycle the lever! Even with all the fumbling and stumbling I still had ten seconds on the clock.

That means Camp Perry is workable. All I need to do now is practice for accuracy.

[Culpeper]

Great news to all of this issue's readers! The Winny and I have passed a new mile stone on the road to Camp Perry.

I knew the old girl had a heavy trigger pull but never had empirical evidence of how stiff it really was. I was passing local gun shop and just happen to have the rifle with me so I swung in to get it checked.

Oh yes. Was it four pounds? Not hardly. Was it eight pounds? Ha! It laughed at the scale. Was it twelve pounds? Pfffft! Didn't even know the scale existed. No, no, dear readers. The pull was way above the twelve pound limit of the scale and off the top end by a wide margin.

So I may have to do the old school string and weight routine if I want to know how bad it truly is.

I am determined more than ever to put her on line at Camp Perry.

[Mike4MSU]

Good Lord! Is that normal?!?! Seems crazy heavy

[psteinmayer]

You might want to stone the sear... not enough to make it slick and hairy... but just enough to reduce the drag a little!

[butlersrangers]

You may want to shop around for a 'spare' 1895 Winchester sear spring.

It is likely that some metal removal and reshaping needs to be done, to the spring, in order to get the trigger-pull under 5 pounds.

Some model 1895 parts are listed on eBay (in Lithuania), today.

[Culpeper]

Gentlemen, you were in the correct general area with your ideas.

I have been trained by more than a dozen old school technicians in the last forty-five years and all taught a recurring message.

"See what you are looking at. Don't just look at it."

I pulled the stock off the action to see how the shebang worked in my hand. I felt how the springs operated when the hammer was cocked and un-cocked. I felt how the trigger felt when I pulled it with the hammer at rest. That is when it all came together.

The problem was the trigger mechanism. Heavy as heck without any other influences on it. So it must be a spring problem just like you alluded to above. I took a critical look at the spring screws.

Not only are they the attachment points but they are also the tension points.

Then I noticed the sear spring screw was turned about two and a half threads deeper (blue line) from being flush mounted. So I grabbed my trusty 7-level screw driver and backed it out. Sure as shootin' the trigger now has a very reasonable "not in excess of 12 pounds' pull.

There is still tension on the trigger at the current adjustment so just to keep it that way I may put a half a drop of blue loctite on sear spring screw.

Hope this helps someone

Culpeper

-- On the road to Camp Perry reporting.

[waterman]

Is the trigger spring drilled & threaded for the screw? How much do you have to back off the trigger spring screw before it ceases to function as intended? Is the trigger pull adjustable (made lighter) from where you have it?

[butlersrangers]

Washers or spacers under the hammer and sear springs might alter the tension. If a flat spring is too long or sharp-edged it could be binding or galling metal parts and increasing trigger-pull effort.
Some stoning of burrs & edges and a dab of grease can lessen friction.